Sorry in my defence I've not felt that well this weekend AND you begged me to drag it out. Not sure this is what you were wanting…but this is what you got…

Thanks for all the song suggestions, I've sneaked a few in, thanks as ever for reading and reviewing.


Chapter Forty-Nine

Sunday 4th August

'I'd tried so not to give in.
I said to myself: this affair never will go so well.
But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know down well
I've got you under my skin?'

She gave him a nervous smile.

"You don't want to find out what the song is first?" he asked.

"What do you think it could be? Tequila?" she suggested cheekily.

Harry gave a snort of laughter. "This is Leo's record collection we're talking about. Maybe he had some classics. What about 'Ain't nothing like the real thing?" that would be about the right era for this machine.

"Hmm it's a good idea…" Nikki looked at the record player and pulled a face.

"How about, 'My man done left me to go teaching in New York and the sorry arse not even turn up at his friend's funeral,'" she suggested with a pout.

"Ah, yes the well known Blues Classic," he raised an eyebrow questioning her, asking her silently if she had forgiven him. He was pretty sure that if she was making a joke about it, he was finally on safe ground. "Or was it a Country and Western number?" He saw her smile.

"Sorry?" he said.

"Tracey Chapman is far too modern for this piece of pre-history," she answered dismissively and he could tell that the worst was past and that she was on the way to forgiving him if she hadn't already.

There was something momentous about the atmosphere in the room, as if everything in the last decade had been moving them towards this very point, just with glacial slowness. Maybe it had only been a month since he had arrived back, but it wasn't as if they'd just met, they had history. A lot of history and if things went well this evening there was every possibility they would have a future too.

"Stand by me?" Nikki asked.

Harry nodded, took a step towards her and then suddenly lost his nerve.

"But what if it's the classic song: 'I'd like to teach the world to sing?'" He blustered, cursing himself as he said it for ruining the moment with a stupid joke.

"You know how to sing, you just left your partners." Nikki said plunging them back into seriousness.

Nikki noticed his agonised face, she knew how hard this was for him, how adrift he felt and exposed without the safety net of propriety between them, just fear of the consequences of the open sea. Their safety net had been punctured and almost shredded over the years but as useless as it was, it was still a source of comfort.

"Do you think this machine could have been hidden here since the 70's? she asked, steering them both back to safer waters. Harry shrugged.

"Wasn't 'I'd like to teach the world to sing the first Coca Cola advert in the 70's," she added.

"My point exactly," exclaimed Harry. "Leo loved advert music maybe he started as he meant to carry on."

"These might not be Leo's records," Nikki pointed out.

"Can you really see Leo not knowing that all this stuff was back here? He always had to know everything about everything, you don't think he'd have moved the bookcase when he moved in?"

Nikki threw her hands in the air and looked back at the record player.

"Somewhere beyond the sea?" she suggested more realistically.

"It could even be by Elvis," Harry said.

"You could sing along," Nikki offered and saw yet more hurt in his eyes.

"Stormy weather?" Harry proposed, trying to assess her reaction, but she still wasn't giving much away. He was beginning to suspect her choices of song titles were not so much guesses now, as to suggestions.

"Taking a Chance on Love?"

"I've got you under my skin?"

"Impossible dream?" Nikki half whispered.

It's not impossible when it's possible thought Harry.

"In the Mood, Glen Miller," Harry suggested, one eyebrow raised. Hadn't he said in his letter he was tired of waiting? It was time for action.

"Will you still love me tomorrow?" Nikki countered.

"When I'm 64?" Harry asked but with a nod in answer to her question.

"Always and Forever…" she asked.

"Shall we?" said Harry kicking the last remaining boxes to the side to make some space on the floor and offering her his hand. He picked up the needle and placed it down gently on the edge of the spinning record. There was a scratchy hissing noise as the needle travelled through the empty grooves punctuated by little clicks before a big orchestral introduction began.

Harry smiled.

"You know what this is?"

He nodded. "I take it back, Leo did have some taste."

"You're sure they're his" Nikki asked.

"Oh yes," Harry began but then the beautiful breathy voice joined the instruments in a plaintive cry that seemed to come from the very depths of the singer's soul, breaking off his words.

'At last, my love has come along,

Harry pulled her closer and felt his eyes close and a huge weight lift from his shoulders.

My lonely days are over, and life is like a song.

At last, the skies above are blue,

He felt Nikki's cheek against his, he felt a stillness deep within him, no churning stomach for him today, just a steadiness and a throbbing in his heart giving life to the connection between them.

My heart was wrapped up in clover,

The night I looked at you.'

Harry held her hand, his right arm in the small of her back as they swayed gently to the music. With his eyes closed, he breathed deeply and filled his being with the smell and feel of Nikki pressed the full length of his body, not pulling away from him and his ears full of the sound of Etta James' soulful voice.

'And here I am in heaven, for you are mine at last.'

'Thank you Leo,' he said silently to his friend. It would be nice to think Leo had planned it all, left the record for them to find, left them his house to make sure they worked together at such a difficult time. Left him the idea for his new job, a way of doing what he loved most but without having to spend every minute of every day with Nikki. Leo knew they would need their space. There was a great deal that Harry had never understood about his friend, mentor and old boss but there was no reason to believe that he hadn't planned it all. Just because Harry didn't understand it; it didn't mean Leo hadn't done it on purpose. It didn't make it a fantasy.

He moved his cheek from beside hers to look at her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, he tried to read her face; desperate to read happiness there, contentment, desire but for once he couldn't decipher her. Their lips were inches apart but he wanted her to be the one to close the gap. He'd travelled 3000 miles to come back to her; it was up to her to close up the last 3 inches. They stood frozen together, neither moving as the violins finished their crescendo and the music stopped. Instead of the record player's arm automatically returning to the start it stayed down on the disc, setting up a rhythmic pulse of scratch and pop, tearing through the place where the label had once been.

Harry jumped out of her embrace to lift the needle before it damaged the vinyl or broke the stylus. He stared at the machine, his mind and body in turmoil.


Tequila: The Champs 1958

Ain't nothing but the real thing: Marvin Gaye 1968

Sorry: Tracy Chapman 1988

Stand By Me: Ben E King 1961

I'd Like to Teach the World To Sing: New Seekers 1971

Somewhere Beyond The Sea: Bobby Darin 1946

Stormy Weather: Lena Horne 1943 (Ella Fitzgerald 1945)

Taking A Chance On Love: Dorothy Dandridge 1953

I've Got You Under My Skin: Frank Sinatra 1963

Impossible Dream: Andy Williams 1971

In The Mood: Glen Miller Band 1946

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? The Shirelles 1961

When I'm Sixty-Four: The Beatles 1967

Always and Forever: Heatwave 1976

At Last: Etta James 1960

Been wanting to do a conversation like this, from the start…hope it worked. Sorry for the history lesson. If you don't know the song, you must listen to the Etta James: At Last, but the whole list is pretty good...